Happy (possible) last game of the 2024-25 NBA season to you and yours.
Oklahoma City Thunder @ Indiana Pacers – 5:30 PM PT / 8:30 PM ET
- OKC leads the series 3-2
NBA Finals Open Thread – Thursday, June 19th
OKC can wrap this thing up, tonight!
By Tony Xypteras | 32 Comments | Jun 19, 2025
Jun 16, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) reacts during the fourth quarter of game five of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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What about Zach Lavine for Jeremy Grant and Matisse Thybulle? Grant would have to play backup to probably Keegan. Good bench.
No thanks. LaVine’s contract is shorter, and Grant doesn’t seem to want to play. He misses a lot of games due to “injuries”.
He could sit on the bench with Matisse Thybulle, who misses a lot of due to injuries (not (sic) “injuries”)
I’m just throwing things around before the draft so bare with me and I value your opinions.
DeRozan and Carter and a first if need be for RJ Barrett. IMO a much better fit at SG than Lavine.
I also have Monk for PJ Washingto straight up.
That would be great for Kings and Mavs .
Except it doesn’t work. Dallas is too close to the first apron to take on Monk’s salary for Washington’s. Dallas would need to add over $4m in contracts to make that deal work.
Trying to improve immediately is a loser’s strategy. It’s simple. Try to dump these big salaries, drop long term payroll, acquire as much draft capital as possible, tank for the next two years, use new found cap space to acquire bad contracts in exchange for young fliers or draft picks.
Lastly, be careful in the desire to keep your better young players, you don’t overpay and create another bad contract for yourself. I like Murray but we can’t be giving out max contracts to guys who would be the 4th or 5th options on top teams.
That to me is the formula going forward and all these other trades to improve around the edges are fools gold. It’s going to take 3-4 years or more but having a roster of young developing players with unknown potential it a better product than what we have now even if our record gets worse the next couple of seasons.
Question. With all we have explain to me how we are going to get draft picks. Adamsite showed how the Kings could trade Sabonis for Hartenstein, Topis and there #15 and # 24. Otherwise I can;t see any more. Can you>
Keegan is not getting anywhere near the max. IMO, small market teams need to retain their talent. If Keegan agrees to an extension $20-25M you take it. That’s a Cam Johnson type of extension and less than what Jalen Johnson got in ATL. If Keegan improves it’s an absolute win. If he remains the same or even regresses, it’s not an impossible contract to move. It’s not even half of a max deal.
By all means, extend and keep him on the cheap now.
$20-25 per for KM sounds about right.
PJ at 15.5 and Monk at 17.4.only roughly 2 mil. What if the Kings throw in the 2 mil. Would that work?
PJ is at $14.1 next season and Monk is at $18.7M. Dallas is projected at less than $1M below the first apron unless they don’t pick up their team options. Cash Considerations doesn’t play a part in in cap stuff.
Jack –
we are a giving community – please keep sharing your thoughts and ideas. I don’t agree with very many of your trades lately, but hey, that’s okay. I still want Tari Eason though.
We are all Sacramento Kings fans – we keep searching and hoping, maybe we’ll come up with something somehow someway sometime.
Second’d. I love Jack’s ideas and contributions to our community.
No on both . Grant overpaid and rarely plays . Thybulle a good defender when he plays which isn’t often .
Should Indy win tonight and this series goes to 7, could it be considered one of the best Finals in recent memory? FWIW, The last 7 game Finals was 9 years when the Dubs blew a 3-1 series lead to Cleveland. Also, there have been only four 7 game series in the past 30 years.
And the fact that these are two small market teams is nice.
+1 The only thing I wish is that we didn’t have to wait two days between each game for most of this series. Wonder if having more days off than usual affected the players (good or bad).
At this point in the season and how deep these playoffs run, the extra rest could only help which equates to better play on the court. Game 7’s in the Finals are rare. Enjoy.
Parity seems to have kicked in after the bubble season in 2021 with the MIL/PHX Finals. I think with the new CAP rules we should get used to new teams and small market teams making the Finals. And the old guard is ageing out (Lebum, Steph, KD, Leonard).
Prior to MIL winning, the nine Finals winners prior to that consisted of the aforementioned 4.
Four foul calls in a row going OKC’s way. Come on, NBA.
They don’t just have Haliburton. They have everything Sacramento wants. Look at Reggie wearing a Jalen Rose jersey. Look at Metta Artest, FFS! I read Rik Smits was there! They have a winning team and hometown loyalty. They have a Hall of Fame coach. Their superstar WANTS to be there. Hopefully envy motivates The Little Chap slightly more than the ego boost of making all the decisions himself. Because he should be bright green with envy right now.
To be fair, Vivek once had a passing conversation with Herb Simon, the owner of the Pacers, several years ago during an NBA owners event.
Though they only talked about the weather, it makes sense to me (and Vivek) that his comment on the pleasant afternoon breeze had such an impact on Simon that it inspired him to direct his GM on how to build the team.
So, in (Vivek’s) reality, the Pacers owe their success to Vivek.
That’s the only conclusion I can take from this.
LOL!!!
For a team that has never won a ship, Indy has a lot of history and historic players.
OT: Here’s a prediction on a move that Jack was suggesting a few weeks ago:
That would be a good pickup. Especially considering there’s little chance we can resign Laravia.
I don’t know if they can afford him. Kings are currently at 9 rostered players, should they pick of the options of Keon and Isaac Jones, and will be roughly $21.2M below the tax line and $25.6 below the first apron. Should Jerome take the full MLE at $12.8M that would leave the Kings with $8.4M left under the tax line with still 4 more guys they’d need to add by opening day to get to 14 rostered players.
This also doesn’t take into consideration the current contract situation with Keon. They can not pick up his option and instead let him hit RFA and match any offers for him. Should they pick up his super cheap TO, he hits the UFA the summer of 2026. I prefer the former as opposed to the latter. Lock him up long term now, but that eats into the cap space. Perry has some decisions to make
Vivek has never spent into the tax, and why should he with the way this roster is constructed.
Holy Moly – not only are we looking at a Game 7 (!), but this isn’t just a battle with the underdog Pacers fighting tooth and nail to eek out a win against the regular season League leading Thunder, led by an MVP.
This is a game 7 after a regular ol’ home court thumping by Indy on the favorites, OKC.
I am looking forward to the crowning of a new, never before NBA Champion squad and though the larger part of me figures the Thunder, at home, with 2 All-NBA players, one of which is the MVP, should be the successor, the balanced, dogfight, championship coach resumé-d, Pacers would not be much of a surprise to pull off the upset, with solid momentum going in (don’t discount Big Mo).
What a great finish to the season!
Bonus Question: who wins Finals MVP?
If Pacers – Pascal Siakam (clearly, to me)
If OKC – depends on Game 7. Could be Jalen Williams, but will probably be Shai.
Bonus Bonus Question:
Should the Finals MVP go to the best player in the Finals (remember, Jerry West (R.I.P.) did win an MVP while on the losing Lakers (1969 vs. Boston), or the best player on the best team during the entirety of the playoffs? It seems funny to me that we recognize a full regular season MVP, and a Finals MVP, but the 3 playoff series prior to the Finals run is “ignored”.
Should be a fun game. Disappointing showing by OKC in game 6. But now the pressure is on.
I agree with your finals MVP picks.
Bonus-Bonus: I think the finals MVP should go to the best post season player on the title winner unless there was a heroic showing by a player on the finals loser.
I think the 3 playoff series should be factored in, but the Finals MVP should only go to a player that played in the finals. If that makes sense.
So Brunson couldn’t be considered, even if he averaged 45 pts/g and lost out in the conference finals. But say OKC won and Tyrese averaged 45 pts/g in the finals and had a late game winner or 2, he could be the finals MVP.
It could be an even crazier offseason should OKC lose this series. They have everyone coming back next season. Should they lose, do they retool or run it back next year? They really do have the assets and cap space to get anyone.
As to Finals MVP, I’ve always scratched my head at that one. There are plenty of times the best player in the series was on the losing end. I think back to the 2015 Finals where Iggy won, despite coming off the bench for a game or two. I just looked it up and he averaged a pedestrian 15, 5 and 4, while LeBron averaged 35,13 and 8. I know box scores don’t tell the whole story but that’s an insane line from LBJ.
Maybe they should add or replace the Finals MVP with a Postseason MVP?
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